Lamine Kone is dreaming of a historic double over Chelsea as Sunderland prepare for face the Blues on Wednesday evening (KO 7.45pm).
Last season the Ivorian was a beast at the back as the Black Cats came from behind on two occasions to seal a memorable win thanks to superb strikes from Wahbi Khazri, Fabio Borini and Jermain Defoe.
Just a few days’ later safety was secured as Kone’s double helped defeat Everton on another night to remember at the Stadium of Light.
And speaking ahead of this week’s Wearside outing, Kone insisted that belief and hard work can once again inspire Sunderland to victory.
“Saturday was a difficult day for us but we won’t hide and we’ve worked hard to prepare for Wednesday’s game against Chelsea.
“We wanted to win against Swansea City and we were unable to do that, but we’ll carry on as a team."
He continued: “We’ve been playing really well and we’ve been winning games so we’ve shown that we’re a good side beating Bournemouth, Hull and Leicester.
“At Swansea the fans backed us in numbers and I know they’ll do the same on Wednesday, and if it’s anything like last year they’ll give us a lot of help on the pitch.
“We’ll need them because Chelsea are a very strong team with a lot of good players, but we remember last season and we believe we can do it again.”